Vihren Palace Ski & Spa Resort

“Great location for young families but out-dated hotel”

We were at the Vihren Palace for our first ski holiday as a young family of three. The hotel in general was handy and good value for money for a first family ski trip. Location of hotel was perfect. It was so close to the gondola and very near good ski hire shops/good restaurants. The Aldo superma… more

We were at the Vihren Palace for our first ski holiday as a young family of three. The hotel in general was handy and good value for money for a first family ski trip. Location of hotel was perfect. It was so close to the gondola and very near good ski hire shops/good restaurants. The Aldo supermarket is only just down the street which was super handy for us and our 5 year old daughter! It also has a really late opening time for after dinner treats/last minute bits at the end of the day! On the other hand, the hotel is was very out-dated and could do with some modernisation! Besides the huge selection of breakfast options, the food quality was very poor. Waffles were like cardboard, cereal tasted like basic cheap cereal you buy in a poundland back home, etc. I’m general, we found the food in Bulgaria not great (not just the hotel) compared to back home so maybe it’s down to what we are used to. The coffee machines were terrible. I pressed for a latte and it was just luke warm milk that came out with no coffee in it whatsoever. I tried the other options but in the end, resorted to buying cold starbuck coffee bottles from Aldo every morning to get my coffee kick! Not food related but some of the female dining staff had sneakers and ripped skinny jeans on which would be unheard of in a UK hotel. I know it’s 2023 but it’s just unprofessional and doesn’t give the hotel a good image. Hotel needs updating/modernising of rooms. The bathroom did not feel like a hotel bathroom at all. It was very basic, bath was poorly fitted and leaking. Shower was temperamental with the heating setting. Room has a kitchenette but there is no cups, plates, cutlery or even washing up liquid for the sink to wash cutlery. So why even have a kitchenette taking up the space if you can’t use it? The shelves were also dusty, which isn’t very reassuring about the hotel cleaning service. The spa area was very disappointing as this was one of the main reasons for booking Vihren Palace, for the pool and hot tub after a long days skiing! Hot tub wasn’t worth getting excited about…wasn’t very hot and could be larger/updated as the jets aren’t good and it’s quite old. The swimming pool was too cold. The area between the swimming pool and hot tub/sauna was never mopped or drained properly so it was a massive slip hazard.. even with the slippers provided on. This just made it slippier and I near keeled over countless times from walking across (even for an ex-gymnast! Ha). The streets could do with tidying up and bigger industrial bins provided as all we could see was bags of half-sealed rubbish being left on the street (nothing to do with the hotel but it just brings everything down). The hotel has a lot of potential if they can make improvements to what I have stated above. Nonetheless, we had a comfortable stay and were super close to the gondola to beat the ques and get up the mountain every morning.

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“Great Position Average Hotel”

I visited the hotel with 2 families and we had 3 rooms/apt. The one for 3 was really great but the other 2 one was spacious but average and the third one was small and bad. There was a toilet with shower on the flour with no cabin or bathtub. Breakfast was ok but not for 4 star hotel. Unfortunately… more

I visited the hotel with 2 families and we had 3 rooms/apt. The one for 3 was really great but the other 2 one was spacious but average and the third one was small and bad. There was a toilet with shower on the flour with no cabin or bathtub. Breakfast was ok but not for 4 star hotel. Unfortunately we had half-board and we tried twice the food, which was lower than acceptable. This is the reason the last 2 days we tried the food in local taverns where the food was great. We also visited the spa. Steam bath and sauna were very small but the surprise for the two ladies that took a massage and paid a good amount of money was that no robe or slippers were provided. I believe for the amount paid it should had been provided on the spot. The rooms were clean and changed towels every day. On the other hand there were details that need to correct like flour that was damaged due to water, dirty spots on the carpet etc I think 3 stars would be enough and of course lowering the prices too.

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